ITALY: WORKERS PREPARE TOMB FOR RE-BURIAL OF MURDRED CONTROVERSIAL DUTCH POLITICAN PIM FORTUYN
Record ID:
648363
ITALY: WORKERS PREPARE TOMB FOR RE-BURIAL OF MURDRED CONTROVERSIAL DUTCH POLITICAN PIM FORTUYN
- Title: ITALY: WORKERS PREPARE TOMB FOR RE-BURIAL OF MURDRED CONTROVERSIAL DUTCH POLITICAN PIM FORTUYN
- Date: 16th July 2002
- Summary: (U1) PROVESANO DI SAN GIORGIO, ITALY (RECENT - JULY 13, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF MAIN SQUARE 0.05 2. SLV HOUSE THAT BELONGED TO DUTCH SLAIN POLITICIAN PIM FORTUYN 0.09 3. SMV FLOWERS AND AND LIT CANDLES AT GATE OF HOUSE 0.13 4. SCU PICTURE OF PIM FORTUYN WITH CANDLES 0.19 5. WIDE OF GATES TO CEMETERY 0.24 6. SMV TOMBS IN GRAVEYARD 0.29 7. SMV WORKERS BUILDING FORTUYN'S MAUSOLEUM SEEN THROUGH THE CEMETERY FENCE 0.34 8. SMV MEN POLISHING THE MAUSOLEUMS MARBLE 0.49 9. SMV WORKERS READYING CRANE TO MOVE FORTUYN'S MARBLE COFFIN 0.56 10. SLV TRUCK ENTERING CEMETARY CARRYING MARBLE SLABS FOR TOMB 1.02 11. SLV OF WORKERS BUSY AROUND TOMB 1.08 12. SLV DUTCH TOURISTS ENTERING CEMETERY 1.14 13. SLV TOURISTS LOOKING AT WORK IN PROGRESS ON TOMB 1.20 14. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) YOUNG TOURIST MANON NJLAND SAYING: "He (Pim Fortuyn) was a great man." 1.30 15. SLV WORKERS MEASURING MAUSOLEUM 1.38 16. WIDE OF CRANE LOWERING MARBLE BLOCK INTO PLACE 1.45 17. SLV TOURISTS TAKING PICTURE OF WORKERS 1.49 18. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST JAN DER SALM SAYING: "One of the best Dutch newspapers had the news they were building his tomb here, it was also on TV. My daughter-in-law lives in Trieste so we made decided to organise a trip to Pim's grave. We and our family have always been very impressed with Fortuyn. When we saw him on TV we used to say 'Oh, our friend has come to see us this evening'." 2.15 19. WIDE OF CRANE TRANSPORTING MARBLE TOMB WITH SCULPTURE ON END 2.32 20. CLOSE OF MARBLE SCULPTURE/ COAT OF ARMS REPRESENTING THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE 2.37 21. SMV SCULPTOR GIOVANNI ZAVAGNO, DESIGNER OF THE TOMB, LOOKING AT THE MAUSOLEUM 2.40 22. VARIOUS, ZAVAGNO LOOKING MARBLE COFFIN IS PLACED ON TO BASE OF TOMB SHOTS) 2.58 23. VARIOUS, WORKERS CHECKING AS TOMB MANOEVRED INTO PLACE (2 SHOTS) 3.08 24. WIDE OF ZAVAGNO STANDING BY TOMB 3.16 25. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) SCULPTOR GIOVANNI ZAVAGNO, DESIGNER OF THE TOMB SAYING: "I thought of two elements, one on the right and one on the left, almost as a graphic representation of Pim's life: it ran on a plane for a while then suddenly it went straight up (HE SHOWS THE DESIGN). Pim's political growth, in fact, has been sudden and quick but at one point it was interrupted and you see that from this little separation among the marble elements. This is to mean that, as far as we know, he could have reached higher but he was not allowed to." 4.14 26. WIDE OF WORKERS PLACING LID OF THE EMPTY MARBLE COFFIN 4.21 27. VARIOUS, MARBLE BLOCK WITH FORTUYN'S NAME ON IT BEING CRANED DOWN AND PLACED ON THE TOMB (2 SHOTS) 4.36 28. WIDE OF FINISHED TOMB 4.40 29. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) CLOSE FRIEND OF FORTUYN, BRUNO AMROSIO SAYING: "I hope that he can rest here in peace (WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES). The word rest really bothers me because I haven't got used to the fact that Pim is dead and to the fact that hell be here. We were real friends." 4.58 30. SMV PIM FORTUYN - 1948-2002 WRITTEN ON TOMB 5.02 31. VARIOUS, OF FINISHED OF TOMB 5.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 31st July 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PROVESANO DI SAN GIORGIO, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVAT0QN56LDZH2YXOAR8E1Q89W1
- Story Text: Workers put the finishing touches to a marble tomb
destined to be the final resting place of slain Dutch
politician Pim Fortuyn in the Northern Italian village of
Provesano di San Giorgio. Fortuyn's remains will be flown to
Italy this weekend for the reburial ceremony.
In life Pim Fortuyn was one of the most colourful
politicians of the Netherlands, but his eventual burial place,
in a village nestled in the plains of northern Italy, could
not be more different.
Provesano di San Giorgio is a sleepy centre some 120 km
(75 miles) from the Austrian border. Friends say the far-right
politician, who sent shock waves through Dutch politics with
his call to raise the drawbridge against immigrants, was
attracted by its tranquillity.
Known to all in the area as Pim, Fortuyn had recently
bought one of the simple stone houses on the villages only
piazza, where he stayed during his regular visits.
Garlands of flowers and lit candles appeared on the houses
gates right after Fortuyn's assassination over two months ago
and are still there.
The 54-year old politician was shot dead by a lone gunman
on May 6, just days before a general election. An animal
rights activist has been charged with his murder.
Fortuyn asked in his will to be buried in Italy, but was
temporarily interred at a cemetery near Amsterdam until a tomb
in Italy was ready.
His body will be flown to Italy on Saturday (July 20) and
will be laid to rest in the plain, hand-carved marble tomb
that workers have just finished to assemble.
The simple monument in a silent country cemetery will
stand in stark contrast to the pomp of Rotterdam cathedral
where Fortuyn's body lay in state in an open coffin.
Thousands of Dutch mourners have visited Fortuyn's
temporary grave in the Netherlands but some have already
started to visit the one in Italy.
My daughter-in-law lives in Trieste so we made decided to
organise a trip to Pim's grave said Dutchman Jan Der Salm, as
he watched a crane placing an empty marble coffin in Fortuyn's
mausoleum in Provesanos cemetery.
"We and our family have always been very impressed with
Fortuyn. When we saw him on TV we used to say 'Oh, our friend
has come to see us this evening'," he said.
"He (Pim Fortuyn) was a great man," said Manon Njland, a
young girl visiting the tomb.
Fortuyn was openly gay and his policies were often
compared with those of Frances far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen and
Austria's Joerg Haider but in spite of all controversies his
party won 26 seats in the 150-seat lower house of Dutch
parliament in the last elections.
Fortuyn tomb - made from a 60 tons lump of precious
marble - was designed by sculptor Giovanni Zavagno and by
Bruno Ambrosio, a stonesman and Fortuyn's lifelong friend.
"I thought of two elements, one on the right and one on
the left, almost as a graphic representation of Pim's life: it
ran on a plane for a while then suddenly it went straight up,"
said Zavagno, showing the marble decorations of the tomb.
"Pim's political growth, in fact, has been sudden and
quick but at one point it was interrupted and you see that
from this little separation among the marble elements. This is
to mean that, as far as we know, he could have reached higher
but he was not allowed to," Zavagno concluded.
"I hope that he can rest here in peace," said Bruno
Ambrosio, the friend who introduced Fortuyn to Provesano.
"The word rest really bothers me because I haven't got
used to the fact that Pim is dead and to the fact that hell be
here," he added with tears in his eyes. "We were real
friends," he continued whilst looking at the marble mausoleum
now completed and ready for Saturday's reburial ceremony.
REUTERS
151610 GMT jul 02
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